Category Archives: 5th Grade

Our Field Trip to the Westchester Board of County Legislators

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Did you ever wonder who makes the county laws and helps manage your school district? My class and I went to the Westchester county Board of Legislators. Where we got to see a courtroom and committee meeting place. During our field trip we learned about our legislators, we learned about how they vote on ideas in committees, we also learned about how they help manage all the schools in Westchester and vote on whether to make a bill a county law. To keep learning more about our field trip, keep reading my blog post.

 

During our field trip I learned a lot about the legislative branch of Westchester county. For example, two things I learned about the legislative branch of the county were, that in a committee meeting you decide whether to make an idea into a bill. If the majority of the committee votes yea the bill is presented to the rest of the legislators, I also learned that when voting on a bill all of the legislators have different roles like a clerk who calls attendance the public speaker and all 17 of the district chairmen provide their opinion on the bill the chairman of the entire county also provides his opinion but he is also in charge of the meeting. We got to meet Legislature Boykin (the chairman of the fifth district of Westchester which is where we live) in person. These are two of the many things I learned during our field trip to the board of Westchester county legislators.

 

During our field trip I got to be the chairman of a committee and a district court legislator. My favorite thing about being a chairman of a committee was that I got to call on the other participants in the committee to provide their opinion about whether to make an idea that was presented to us a law. I also liked that I got to call them by their role and their name. I liked this because it made me feel like a real chairman. My favorite thing about being a legislator while voting on a bill in the courtroom was that I got to have my own desk with my own microphone. I also liked the fact that I got to provide my opinion on the bill about banning junk food from the school district. Due to all the reasons that I mentioned earlier, I very much enjoyed our field trip to the board of Westchester county legislators. I liked it because it felt like I was a real legislator.

 

In summary I had a lot of fun on our field trip to the board of Westchester County legislators. I learned a lot about how our county laws are made. I also learned a lot about the process in which a bill becomes a law. I hope that you learned about how an idea becomes a bill and then a county law. Which piece of information about the Westchester board of county legislators that I previously stated did you find most interesting?

 

First Week of 5th Grade

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Did you know that the tallest tower of cards was approximately 25 feet tall and used about 78,000 cards? In class we had to make the tallest tower possible out of 100 index cards but we only had 1 minute to build . The tallest one we made was almost 15 inches! In this blog post you will learn about things I enjoyed this past week, more specifically the index card challenge and the 20 x 9 challenge. You will also be learning about the things I’m looking forward to, such as the science unit about the solar system and the fantasy book clubs.

There are many things I have enjoyed during the past weeks of school such as the Index card challenge and the 20 x 9 challenge. These two things were some of my favorite things we did these past few days. In the index card challenge, we had to figure out how to build a sturdy structure consisting of (at most) 100 index cards. I found this especially enjoyable because it was hard but it also pushed us to work together and not give up. For example, when it seemed like it was going to be impossible to create a tower using only 100 index cards, we worked together to find a better design. The 20 x 9 was a math assignment in which we had to figure out how to get an answer of 20 using only 6 of the same numbers. These numbers consisted of every integer from 1 to 9. For example, we had to find out how to make 20 using 6 sixes or less. This was fun for me due to the fact that it was not only challenging but it was also fun trying to figure out a solution to the challenge presented to us. 

There are several things later in the year that I think that I will enjoy, for example. Two things later this year that I am looking forward to are our first science unit and the fantasy book clubs. The first science unit is going to be about stars and the solar system. I am excited about this because it is a topic that I like to learn about and find very interesting. In the fantasy book  clubs we are going to get to read a fantasy book with a partner and write notes about it. I am excited for this because I like to read and take notes. Another reason that I am excited for the fantasy book clubs is that last year when we had book clubs I found it very enjoyable to read a book then write about my noticings about it with my partner, for example last year we used an app called Jamboard to jot notes about books that we were assigned to I hope that this year’s experience will be as enjoyable as last years.

In summary there are many things these past few weeks that I have enjoyed. And there are many things I’m looking forward to this year. We have done lots of fun things and there are many more to come. Which of the things that previously stated in this article would you enjoy?